ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ TS. HOÀNG THỊ LINH GIANG THỰC HÀNH PHIÊN DỊCH CHUYÊN ĐỀ 1 (Tài liệu học tập dành cho Sinh viên Tiếng Anh) HUẾ, 2021 Sight Interpreting 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the process of compiling the materials for the course Interpreting 1: Sight Interpretation, I was lucky to have wonderful students in the division of Interpretation 2018-2022 cohort who made great contributions to the work in the current course materials. Moreover, a substantial part of the materials comes from the Internet, in particular the useful non- commercial online resources which allow the diversification of the texts used for interpretation practice. We owe our thanks to the named as well as anonymous authors who have made their materials available for free download and use.
Sight Interpreting 2 GENERAL INTRODUCTION This work has been compiled for use as a course material of Interpreting Practice 1: Sight Interpreting for EFL students at the Faculty of English, Hue University, University of Foreign Languages. The contents of this course material are presented following a combination of theme- and task-based approaches to realizing the expected learning outcomes among the students of the course. COURSE OBJECTIVES This course aims to provide English majors specialising in interpretation with the basic knowledge and skills in sight interpreting through regular practice in sighting and translating simple documents that they frequently encounter in daily lives. Other than a professional skill in itself, this sight interpretation serves the transitional function from written translation to oral translation which does not allow for ample preparation time.
The general objectives of the current course material include: o Expanding an interpreter trainee’s specific and general knowledge, supports the development of vocabulary due to its possible application of a wide variety of texts; o Being a useful pedagogic exercise for expanding an interpreter trainee’s skill o Heightening awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses; o Enhancing the cognitive processing within translation; o Serving as a stepping stone to consecutive and simultaneous interpreting courses. (Bown & Dekesel, 2012) Sight Interpreting 3 Week 1: Introduction to the Course Content Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to answer two questions: What is sight interpreting? What are some basic techniques in sight interpreting? Skills objectives: Students are initially familiarized with sight interpreting through simple introductory practice activities. Sight Interpreting • Sight interpreting is interpretation of a written text received by the translator, usually without any time for preparation. • In other words, sight interpretation, also called sight translation, is the oral translation of a written text.
It is a hybrid of written translation and interpreting. • Sight interpreting requires excellent language skills, a good memory, quick thinking, resistance to stress, and good powers of attention and concentration on the part of the interpreter. Discussion • What makes a good interpreter? • What challenges do you encounter when you translate/interpret from English into Vietnamese and vice versa? Sight Interpreting 4 II. Major challenges in translation and interpretation: 1.
“Untranslatability” is usually due to inherent cultural and linguistic features • Different cultural concepts and culture-specific features are usually hard to deal with; for example, rice in English has many Vietnamese equivalents and it takes some familiarity with the Vietnamese culture for the translator/interpreter to choose the right term in the target language; or the word commuter in English does not have an exact equivalent in Vietnamese and translators/interpreters need alternative techniques to translate this word. • What if a word/phrase is “untranslatable”? An approximate equivalent sometimes is enough, but other techniques may be paraphrasing, describing, and skipping the word. Figures of Speech: It is a challenge to deal with figures of speech such as • Idioms (e., the day after tomorrow) • Proverbs (e., throw out the baby with the bath water; don’t count you chickens before they are hatched; when the cat’s away, the mice will play; don’t put the cart before the horse) • Similes and metaphors, i., figures of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness between them (e., as white as a sheet, strong as a horse) Practice • Read the news story in English. • Try interpreting them in groups of three.
Forget the chocolates, flowers and jewellery This Valentine’s Day, February 14, perhaps the best gift you can give the love of your life is your undivided attention. Sadly, for many of us, that is easier said than done. Sight Interpreting 5 An international study of more than 13,000 adults found that many people say modern technology has affected relations with their partner. Almost 40 percent of those questioned said their partner paid more attention to their mobile device than to them.
Intel Security Group, a private company, paid for the study. It examined how romantic relationships are affected by a person's use of social media and the Internet. The research included both old and new relationships. Thirty-three percent of those asked reported that they had to compete against a mobile device for attention on a first date.
Apparently, we have as much love for our digital devices as for the people we love. Intel’s survey found that adults spend almost equal amounts of time online at home as they do interacting directly. And a lot of married couples, friends and family members argue about time spent on mobile devices. Gary Davis is the chief consumer security officer at Intel Security.
He says recognition of our electronic device involvement is important. “If you have a pattern where you’re at dinner, you’re out on a date, you're home having a quiet evening, maybe watching a show, or just enjoying a fire…and a device comes into play, it’s that awkward thing that I don’t think enough people think about. And when they don’t think about it, they don’t understand the wear and tear it’s causing on the relationship.” Self-Practice Activities Self-recorded interpreting: Newspaper Translation Take a newspaper article of 75-100 words in length and study it for about one minute; then first, put the article face down and repeat it as precisely as possible (note: use the language of the article); second, translate the article aloud. Speak evenly without pause or stutter.
Do two passages a day until you can speak without hesitation. It is a good idea to use a tape recorder to record and check your performance. This may need frequent practice over 12 weeks or so. Sight Interpreting 6 Week 2: Techniques in Sight Interpreting Content Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to answer two questions: What are the techniques used in sight interpreting? What are some common problems faced by interpreters when doing sight interpreting? Skills objectives: Students are able to analyse the basic skills in sight interpreting through video watching activities.
Rules of thumb in sight interpreting: As interpreters, we need to interpret • The spirit, not the letter • The sense, not the word • The message, rather than the form • The matter, not the manner II. Process of sight interpreting • Scan the document to determine the subject matter, context, style • Skim the passages quickly and identify key features, commas, and parentheses • Interpret sentence by sentence, focusing on one unit of meaning at a time. • Maintain a steady pace, translating as smoothly as possible. Sight Interpreting 7 III.
Common techniques in sight interpretation • Speak loudly and enunciate clearly • Maintain smooth pacing as if the interpreter were merely reading a document written in the target language • Good posture • Use paraphrasing to trigger a solution in the target language • Keep the register of the source language text (formal vs. informal) • Punctuation may serve the function of intonation • Reading comprehension is the pre-requisite IV. Challenges an interpreter faces during sight interpreting - Not being familiar with the contents and the context of the entire document while being expected to read and translate the required fragments. - To make the translation correct, coherent and fluent, the translator must take in as much of the text as possible and be able to translate it into the target language immediately.
- Largely depending on body language and voice intonation to make sure that they are attributing the proper meaning to the source’s words. - Facing source text interference on the target language due to its constant presence. Sight Interpreting 8 Practice Students work in pairs and take turns to do sight interpreting of the following text. Những người hạnh phúc và thành công có suy nghĩ gì? "Tôi nhận ra rằng khi nghĩ như hầu hết mọi người thì hạnh phúc và thành công chỉ là ảo vọng.
Nhưng khi cố gắng suy nghĩ tích cực thì thành công đã tự tìm đến tôi". Đó là những chia sẻ của ông Doug Armey, một doanh nhân và cũng là nhà đầu tư trong lĩnh vực bất động sản và chứng khoán. Ông đã chỉ ra 8 bài học bản thân phải rất khó khăn mới có thể nhận ra được. Dưới đây là 8 điều ông Doug Armey khi ở tuổi 50.
Sự may mắn Hầu hết mọi người thường nghĩ: “Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt thật may mắn”. Sau đó họ bắt đầu than phiền rằng bản thân không có được những may mắn như vậy. Trong khi đó, người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Chắc chắn tôi sẽ gặp may mắn”. Bởi vậy, họ bắt đầu lên kế hoạch cho tương lai.
Hãy đoán xem, ai sẽ là người gặp may mắn nào? 2. Sự kỳ vọng Hầu hết mọi người đều nghĩ: “Đời tôi sẽ chẳng bao giờ có được thành công thực sự”. Nhưng người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Đời tôi sẽ cực kì đỉnh”. Lòng biết ơn Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ: “Cho tôi thêm một chút nữa thôi.
Tôi sẽ trở nên hạnh phúc”. Và “một chút nữa” với họ chẳng bao giờ là đủ. Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Tôi đã có quá nhiều thứ để biết ơn”. Hiệu suất làm việc Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ: “Tôi nên làm gì nhàn nhất để vẫn được trả lương cao nhỉ?”.
Và họ vẫn được trả lương, nhưng không nhiều. Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Tôi nên làm gì để tạo ra sự khác biệt nhỉ?”. Và họ được trả lương cao cho những thứ khác biệt. Phát triển bản thân Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ: “Tôi chỉ muốn vui vẻ trong thời gian rảnh rỗi".
Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Tôi nên làm gì để phát triển bản thân trong thời gian rảnh rỗi nhỉ?”. Họ làm như họ nghĩ và có thêm nhiều sự vui vẻ hơn. Thái độ với người khác Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ: “Những kẻ làm tôi tổn thương sẽ phải trả giá”. Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Tôi sẽ mỉm cười và vui vẻ bước tiếp".
Và họ làm thế. Hạnh phúc Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ: “Tôi sẽ chẳng bao giờ hạnh phúc cả”. Và họ luôn ủ rũ. Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Tôi đang rất hạnh phúc vì hôm nay sẽ là một ngày tuyệt vời”.
Và họ luôn luôn hạnh phúc. Sự thành công Hầu hết mọi người nghĩ rằng: “Tôi sẽ chẳng bao giờ thành công cả”. Và họ cố chứng minh rằng mình đúng. Người hạnh phúc và thành đạt lại nghĩ: “Mình đã thất bại, mình đã có được những bài học.
Và mình đã ở gần thành công hơn nhiều rồi”. Self-Practice Activities Video subtitles’ sight-translation: Choose a video with English subtitles, then translate the subtitles into Vietnamese as the video progresses.